In the manufacture of paper towels, it is well known to produce nested glued towels in which two plies of creped tissue web are individually embossed and married together with adhesive such that the protrusions of one embossed web contact the depressions of the other embossed web. Such a product is advantageous because of its increased bulk compared to other two-ply products of similar basis weight. An example of such a process and product is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,867,225 to Nystrand and U.S. Pat. No. 4,543,142 to Kuepper et al. The Nystrand patent discloses embossing the two webs between an engraved steel roll and a smooth rubber roll, wherein the adhesive is applied to the protrusions of one of the steel rolls. The Kuepper patent discloses a similar process wherein the two webs are embossed between matched steel embossing rolls. However, both of these processes have disadvantages relating to product strength loss, adhesive strike-through, or rubber roll degradation.